All Forum Posts by: Kyle J.

@Phoebe Pulido  Most likely, yes.  The tax deductibility of the interest has more to do with the use of the loan proceeds, rather than the source. 

For example, let's say you were to do a cash out refi on your paid off home (source property "A"), and then use those proceeds to purchase rental property "B".  The interest on that loan would be tax deductible as an expense against rental property "B".  Hopefully that makes sense.

I could see how it could be a real post.   There was this post a couple months ago from another BP member not too far from me whose deadbeat tenant owed him/his parents almost $27k:

California Tenant Missing Rent Since 03-2020

And in that post, it didn't seem like he was even close to getting this tenant out.  So fast forward two more months to today (2 more months rent @ $2,450/mo), and factor in that our state just recently extended tenant protections for those tenants who do not pay their rent until July (at least 5 more months @ $2,450/mo), and it could actually end up being over $41,000.

And I recently saw the following story about a landlord in New York that has a tenant who allegedly owes him and his wife approximately $80,000 in unpaid rent:

Landlord Says Party Mansion Renters Owe $80,000

It sickening to see tenants taking advantage of these eviction moratoriums that were meant to help the people that actually need it, but it does happen.  And when it does, it's the landlord that gets hurt.

@Joseph Zimlich I have a sure-fire way for you to figure out “statistically” which of those it is. Here it is: 

- If someone on the internet, that you’ve never met, initiates the contact with you, and claims to be a private lender, and asks you to please borrow money from them, at an interest rate that’s anywhere in the 4-6% range, then statistically...

There is a 100% likelihood that it is a scam. 

Seriously, it just doesn’t work that way. So remember that, and you will hopefully avoid losing your hard-earned money (and/or having your identity stolen) when getting these types of email solicitations. 

I have posted on this topic quite a few times in the past so that BP users like yourself won’t get ripped off. To avoid re-typing everything again here, here’s just a few prior threads you might check out (my responses in these have tips and links to other helpful posts):

How do I spot scam lenders?

How do i protect myself when getting a Private Loan

Private Lender Verification

@Joseph Roberts Welcome to BP. See the response from Jeff in the following thread for a great list of questions to ask as you shop hard money lenders:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/49/topics/161532-private-money-lender---how-to-qualify-the-lender

@Hayato Hori Lenders are going to use either the purchase price or the appraised value (whichever is LOWER) to base their LTV off of.

No

@Ronda Botts  You're only required to get flood insurance if the property is located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), AND you have a mortgage loan on the property that is federally-insured (or your lender requires it).  

You can lookup for yourself if your property is in a SFHA here: https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home

(All flood zones beginning with the letter “A” or “V” are considered SFHAs.)

If your lender didn't require it before, it's likely that your property wasn't in a SFHA at that time, or your previously mortgage wasn't federally-insured.  Now that you're refinancing, either the flood maps have changed and your property is now in a SFHA, or you're refinancing into a federally-insured mortgage.  Either way, you'll need to factor that into the cost of the refi and decide if the refi is still worth it.

I just ran 3 completely random addresses in Las Cruces (all pulled from active listings of homes listed for sale) in Las Cruces using the website you listed and was able to find the tax info for all 3 for 2019 and 2020.

Well, you didn't post where you're located, so any responses will just be limited to general information.  But in general, you can call your insurance agent for an estimate on insurance cost.  After a few quotes, you may be able to "ball park" it on your own.  But be advised, that some times crossing a street could put you into a different flood zone.  On one side you may not be required to get flood insurance, and on the other you may be required to get flood insurance.  So that could drastically impact your costs.  Not to mention all the other factors that could affect your insurances costs (e.g. claims history, what company you go with, whether it's going to be owner occupied or a rental or a flip, etc).

As for property taxes, that's fairly easy to estimate.  Usually the information is public record through the local county tax assessor's office. Not sure why you're not able to find it, but again - you didn't post where you're located (or interested in) so it's hard to direct you to the proper site.   In every county in my state, I can just Google "(County name) view or pay property taxes" and it will usually pull up a link to that county tax assessor's website where I can actually search for, and view, a tax bill for a property.  It may vary by state, but there should be a way to get the information you seek.  May just have to do a little digging.

Personally, I would just treat them like any other applicant.  Now, I don't really think you would be sued for trying to be polite and offering to help someone go up some stairs.  However, you very well could be sued for refusing to rent an upstairs unit to someone because YOU didn't believe they had the necessary mobility/functionality to live in an upstairs unit.  Let them decide for themselves what they are capable, or not capable, or doing.  Some "disabled" people are probably more capable then some "non-disabled" people.  

Ultimately, I think the safest course of action is just to treat everybody the same, rent to whoever passes your objective screening criteria, don't rent to anyone who doesn't, and always know the local/state/federal laws that effect you as a landlord better than those who are renting from you and stick to them.  If you do all that, you should be fine.

Best of luck.